remember?, okay here's another; ever drowned in sympathy at the sight
of those poverted neighbour hood, the hungry looking children on
tattered clothes, that hawker you purchased something from and he/she
hadn't sold enough to generate change for your #200? Or are you the
type that doesn't give a fuck? The
I-no-go-fit-swallow-panadol-for-another-person-head ache- kind of
person? Yes? Well..... I pray you make heaven.
First year at high school, i was once driven from school of course
not because of the termly school fees but for a mundane fee of #250
which was supposed to be the inter-house sport fee. I was really
upset,angry,annoyed,mad,* insert any other common qualifying
adjective* not mainly because i forgot my food flask but because i had
to hike my way back home answering the-turned-out-to-be cliché-rical *
I'm very sure that isn't a word but easy my dear human, there is no
law against neolaxia right?*-"what happened" question from
familiar-some not familiar- family friends. Perceive the irony? An
unfamiliar family friend. Pfft, such nosey souls.
The sun was 100% the descendant of the star that led the three
wise men to jesus, I don't know how i came up with that but it led me
home in an almost successful attempt to drown me in my own sweat. On
seeing me, my suprised mum with her search warrant-driven eyes stole
glances from all corners of my soaked body as she asked the familiar
question. I could have given the same answer i had been offering for
the past 20 minutes almost immediatly but my salivary gland was on a
short vacation, i had to go for the most sort after mouth sought after
mouth lubricant, water!, before i could narrate my tale.
Now picture that dad, that mum who received their child hours before the scheduled closing time for the same reason. What happened?
A delay of pay check? Or something even more worse like unemployment.
As i starred at the world daily from my corner of the moving bus on
my way to ecture halls, taking in the situation of different people
and their very subpar life, thinking about my family, the fiscal
problems, how my mum would be coping with my-sometimes cold
hearted-dad, If my younger sister,Benedicta, would be able to adapt to the now corn flakes and golden morn shy diet, and back to myself, how
i bothered too much about them, i managed to smile, sometimes absent
mindedly especially when i remember my star studded trilogy dream, the
"kanye + kendrick + j.cole" almagamation dream. It takes an observant passenger or seat mate to notice the happy face. "why the laugh lines on your acne free face?" someone once asked on one of my 'journey to
school' trips. In unison, my brows leapt for my forehead in suprise.
It was the "conductor"!!. I'm sure you know in this country of ours,
its almost-if not entirely- a national belief that all "bus
conductors" are illiterates though i had heard about some being under
graduates but hadn't come across any till that day. He received the
message i didn't send via my reaction.
'"I WAS ONCE A STUDENT, YOU KNOW"' were the opening words to his
short auto-biographical speech. Hitherto, i never knew i was an
emotional being, My heart bled on hearing his story, I was short of
consolational phrases since "sorry" only brought tears to his eyes. On
my way down, he advised '" BE HARDWORKING, BE SERIOUS WITH YOUR ACADEMICS NOW THAT YOU ARE OPPORTUNED"'. That encounter brought a whole new vision to my eyes, i now look at every blue collar worker
with a whole new perspective, what led them this way? What happened?
Rhetorical questions, i guess. Are determination, hardwork, prayers
simply enough to have that GOOD LIFE?? Another rhetorical question??
Written By Amaechi Frank.
Follow On Twitter: @FrankMACHELLO_
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
No comments:
Post a Comment